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Headache From 3-D Glasses

It's no secret that 3-D television and 3-D movies enjoy a tremendous rise in popularity. But, apparently not every viewer enjoys the experience. Some people suffer from disturbing headaches while viewing movies through 3-D glasses. Is there really a connection between these headaches and 3-D viewing? And if so, what can be done about it?

  1. The Problem

    • Some moviegoers report ill effects during and after viewing media through 3-D glasses. Some report intense headaches while others experience eyestrain or feel nauseous. The discomfort is attributed to the way the eye must compensate while viewing the different images being projected for the left and the right eye. The viewer's eyes must respond to this "binocular disparity cue" in order to see the depth produced in 3-D.

    An Expert Opinion

    • Troublesome symptoms can certainly arise when asking the eyes to work so hard. The symptoms are being reported frequently enough to make the experts take notice. Dr. Deborah Friedman, a University of Rochester professor of ophthalmology and neurology, claims that headaches are a very real possibility for people whose eyes are even slightly unequal. Because 3-D images do not align the same way our eyes and brains do when they normally take in visual cues, the result may cause a lot of headaches.

    Isn't Today's Technology Better?

    • One might assume that 3-D technology has improved since its introduction in the 1950s. While there certainly have been advances in the introduction of digital 3-D, essentially, the eyes are still being put under strain for the 90 minutes or more a viewer is in the theater. While once there were two projectors each projecting a different image for the left and the right eye, now there is just one projector emitting the entire image. But even so, people are still experiencing headaches.

    The 3-D Effects are Too Good

    • In an effort to satisfy a hungry public's desire for more and better 3-D effects, the directors are going all out. In order to create greater depth on film, the directors must place the cameras recording the two shots as far away from each other as possible. This results in effects that jump out at the audience and a throbbing head for some.

    What Can Be Done?

    • These 3-D side effects are not a new nuisance to modern moviegoers. People have been experiencing 3-D eyestrain and headaches since the 1950s. The only guaranteed remedy is to avoid seeing a 3-D show or movie. However, some have suggested that directors should include blurred areas on each screenshot so that the eye has somewhere else to look on screen. No one is really convinced that this will solve the problem, and it also limits the amount of detail a director can show in each shot. For now, 3-D is king. Whether the public will tire of it and move on to something else in the future remains to be seen.

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